Thursday, June 9, 2011

1987 vida blue

vida blue signed with the oakland a's as a free agent in january of 1987. here is his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the lefty, who had sat out the 1984 season after being released by the royals, only to return to the majors with the giants in 1985, never actually pitched for the a's in 1987. he had signed with them, along with former teammate reggie jackson (whose 1987 o-pee-chee variation is coming soon), after announcing that he wanted to pitch one more year following his release from the giants in november of 1986. instead, blue decided to retire in march of '87, just a couple of months after signing his deal.

in all, blue won 124 of his 209 games with the a's, along with his cy young award, mvp award, and three world championships.